Samsung has bought 5 percent of Wacom, which is likely an attempt to equip more of its tablets and smartphones with the high-quality stylus'.

Wacom is a company that specializes in interactive pen displays and digital drawing tablets. Samsung's 5 percent cost $58.2 million USD, allowing it to couple the stylus' with devices like its Galaxy Note line.

"It is becoming increasingly important to form close relationships with manufacturers of mobile information terminals, particularly smartphones and tablets, and to bring new products to market in a timely manner," said Wacom. "With regard to digital pens for smartphones in particular, Wacom’s sales to Samsung Electronics have increased in recent years. Wacom digital pens are used in Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Note smart phone, which is sold in 99 countries around the globe including in North America, Europe, Japan, China and India. Wacom expects the inclusion of its digital pens in Samsung Electronics’ smartphones and tablets to lead to the expansion of the user base of its products."

While stylus' have largely become a thing of the past (due to the amount of touch devices available), Wacom doesn't make any ordinary stylus -- they're pressure sensitive so that they can be used for drawing and other work.

Samsung is a great hardware manufacturer to partner with too, since its Android-powered smartphones are popular (Samsung sold about 60 million smartphones in Q4 2012 while Apple only sold 47.8 million iPhones) and its tablet market share is growing significantly (Samsung represented 15.1 percent of the U.S. tablet market share as of Q4 2012, and had a 263 percent year-on-year growth).

What? Seems like you haven't seen any of the youtube videos of what sketching on a Note is like...It is Wacom. Wacom wouldn't allow their name be tarnished by the lack of pressure sensitivity.128 levels of pressure on the Note, 1024 on the Note 2.

Try out the Note 10.1 tablet. I've had it for a while now and it too has the 1024 levels of sensitivity. Autocad Sketchpad Pro also supports the full pressure levels as well so is great to work with.

I've found one of the greatest features of the Note 10.1, especially now with JB and multiwindow capability with more apps, is I'll pull up a drawing application then a little browser floating window or picture. Find a picture you want to sketch and Wa-La. You're sketching it all in one device. It's pretty damn kick ass if you're interested in sketching often to hone your skills.

Wow, really? I didn't think it was possible for a Wacom user to not know about the Galaxy Note. Samsung has been advertising it like mad.

As you know, the Wacom stylus is completely different from the finger-emulating nubs for the iPad, iPhone, etc. It's not only pressure sensitive, but it also has a button and works with the stylus hovering over the screen.

Samsung built in a truckload of features into the OS to take advantage of the stylus. I know some people won't find them useful, but the Note II is undeniably the most revolutionary phone since the original iPhone.

I'm loving mine, and it's letting me do practice drawing without spending tons on a PC Wacom... finally starting to get the hang of actually drawing, since it's something I can quickly erase what I screwed up and go on... fantastic tech.